Interesting article but the headline "Bay Area bears weight of obesity" is misleading. Using the reference and Web Link there is not much difference between cost per individual. L.A. county is on my "eyeball average" about $1200/person. Santa Clara is about the same but Alameda Co. does exceed. Smaller counties tend to be a bit better.

But how did they arrive at these numbers and what do they mean?? Looking for methodology, I end up at the same place every time.

I do believe there is a major problem. We visited the Maritimes in the late '90s. We noted in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia many individuals that we likened to the Pillsbury Doughboy. When we returned to the bay area, we noted a considerable difference; there were very few noticeably overweight people. A pediatrician friend who spends much time in Maine agreed. We put it up to longer, colder winters than ours.

I also noted that several years ago the local park [Bubb] was occupied all weekend with youth soccer games and baseball weekday evenings. Son-in-law who plays tournament softball in the S.F. area commented that there was a tremendous dropoff in the number of leagues and the number of games. I asked the reason: "computer games!".